


butterfly wings flapped once

by TheTartWitch



Series: Steampunk Roses (Harry Potter Style) [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Exasperated Remus is Exasperated, F/M, Foursome - M/M/M/M, Harry continues amassing an army, He is suffering, Lucius makes a choice, M/M, Malfoy survit avant tout, Queerplatonic Relationships, Sirius I'm so done with your shit, Sirius has contracted horrible foot-in-mouth syndrome, Sirius is really bad at giving presents to Slytherins for Slytherins, Triwizard Tournament, also Romantic Relationships, beginning of the uprising, bite your tongue Voldemort!, blissfully unaware of the dawning age of Emperor Harry, can't remember what their actual motto is but close enough, dudes i don't know, incesty?, like cuddly and shit, no real detail though probably, please help our boi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-04-28 09:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,488
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14446302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTartWitch/pseuds/TheTartWitch
Summary: The Triwizard Tournament comes to Hogwarts.The other schools visit and are wildly perturbed at the power balance here.The Gryffindors are paranoid, the Slytherins are sulky, the Hufflepuffs are way too smily and helpful and a little scary, and the Ravenclaws know everything ever, and are secretly watching you all the time.orDurmstrang and Beauxbatons did not sign up for this.





	1. Birthday Party #2

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, y'all, I'm back after months? months of absence and hiatus. My most sincere of apologies.  
> This isn't entirely finished the way the others had been when I began posting them, so there's definitely going to be time lag between chapters (no more "once a day + when I feel like it" nonsense, oh no. MUCH less structured stuff happening here. Sorry about that.  
> At the end of iantowhnh I posed a lot of questions to you guys. Everybody knows this series is just for fun for me, primarily generated by random things I've always wanted to write and ideas put forth by you guys, and I definitely got good responses to these questions, which has helped fill in most of the holes in the story I'd been stumbling through before. However, there are a few more that have yet to be addressed completely (Neville's beast, for which there will be voting as I couldn't decide) or at all (the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff I needed for one scene in here, thankfully at the end)!  
> Anyways, I've chattered enough. Enjoy:  
> butterfly wings flapped once!

**BEGINNING OF YEAR FOUR: GOBLET OF FIRE**

The end of the summer comes around very quickly, it feels, for Harry. Between Sirius’ desperate attentions and the flood of orders still coming in from Ravenclaws’ families and their allies. His birthday was inordinately extravagant thanks to Sirius; he still sometimes seemed confused on who he was with and what year it was, as demonstrated by Harry’s surprise birthday party being decorated with red and gold. Remus had sighed and dragged Sirius aside to talk about it in the hall of No. 12 Grimmauld Place, but they were loud enough that Harry could hear Remus’ exasperation and Sirius’ confusion that anyone would _want_ their home decorated in green and silver. He was vocally of the opinion that Slytherin was nothing to be proud of, and on the whole left Harry feeling rather sad and downtrodden. Remus had returned and spelled everything the colors of Harry’s house, ignoring the childish pout on Sirius’ face, but the day had been rathered ruined and Harry wasn’t really up to celebrating anymore. As he left the room, Lilla took the time to snap her jaws at Sirius’ ankles to watch him hop about in a startled mayhem.

His friends had been a tad more understanding. Hermione had sent him a set of books from France, where she’d been vacationing with her parents, and a large basket of French candies from the French version of Honeydukes with a note rambling about her summer and her excitement for the upcoming Quidditch World Cup, where he’d be accompanying her and some of their other friends. It was signed with a tiny paw print instead of her name, a funny little code she’d thought up. Draco had sent a set of marble chess pieces and a marvelous hand-carved board, and a letter explaining that Draco loved chess and thought Harry might too, and once they met up again they could play. Harry taught the pieces to dodge the other side’s blows and leap back into the box, the better to keep from having to clean up all the shards of rock all the time. The pieces may regenerate, but there was always a fine coating of dust on everything.

Harry’s Ravenclaws sent letters upon packages of secrets and scandals and all sorts of mysteries: the animagus form of one Ms. Rita Skeeter, a prominent reporter for a Wizarding newspaper; the fact that their teacher for next year still had yet to be chosen but that wasn’t truly a surprise, the curse on the DADA position left the list of potentials growing frightfully short; Dumbledore was, thankfully, still in Azkaban, where he entertained the dementors with marvelous images of butterflies and rampant rays of sunshine and generally drove them all batty; Harry’s unfortunate Aunt Marge still had digestion problems and loud gas attacks at unfortunate times of day, such as when she was entertaining paying customers or checking out in grocery stores. It was all quite thrilling and would eventually be useful, he imagined, in the long run.

His gift from Sirius was a racing broom (wonderful if not for the fact that Lilla detested them), a potions set (woefully understocked and rudimentary, Sirius did know he was going into Potions 4, yes?), and a mirror enchanted to compliment Harry’s appearance no matter how ghastly (not very useful if he didn’t want to look ghastly). Sirius thought they were delightful. Remus had sighed again and covered his face, and Harry, who had probably had last had a birthday sometime around his first birthday, had said they were lovely and that he would use them.

Suffice to say he probably would not.


	2. Presents (or: Harry's "haul", thank you Sirius)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry doesn't want to miss a single thank-you letter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh my gosh guys I'm so sorry. How long has it been? months? years?   
> I have gotten so many comments regarding ideas and suggestions and thoughts about my questions from last time, and now that i'm back at school i'll try and get my schedule back under control, but let me tell that my summer has been a shit show only vaguely remedied by mystery shows and really good books about dragons, and i haven't felt up to writing much of anything for Harry Potter. It felt wrong to taint such a wonderful part of my childhood by trying to focus on it through the stress and frustration and irritation.   
> Anyway! I'm back, and hopefully here to stay. Please keep an eye out for more updates in the future, feel free to leave comments with more suggestions for things you'd like to see happening in this or future installations of this series (remember I have barely any of it written so I am more than happy to think about additions), or even ask questions if you didn't understand something that I may have forgotten to explain in the story. :)

All in all, his list of presents that year was quite long, and honestly he felt almost greedy with such a “haul,” as Sirius so gracefully put it. In the end, he decided to make a list so as to make sure he didn’t miss a single thank-you letter.

  * French books and candies (Hermione)
  * Rudimentary potions set, racing broom, enchanted flattering mirror (Sirius)
  * Workshop in Grimmauld Place (Remus)
  * Marble chess set and hand-carved board (Draco)
  * Exotic metals, books, and designs for experimenting (Neville)
  * Gossip and espionage (various Ravenclaws)
  * Dirigible plum tree sapling (Luna)
  * Butter brownies (Ms. Figg)
  * A dead mouse and some pretty leaves that might be interesting shapes to experiment with for beasts (Lilla)



It was a pretty long list, all things considered, but he knew there’d no doubt be some use for all of them, even if it was just sitting still and decorating his new room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to yell at me about my month-long absence. I deserve all of the vitriol, although I will say that there is a limit to how much brimstone I'm willing to allow to rain down upon me. I guess I should say, I understand the impatience but please be polite about it. :)


	3. please get me out of the house

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is anxious, Remus and Sirius argue, Sirius continuously puts his foot in his mouth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go, hopefully back on regular updates every day like last time.

It is nearing the beginning of the school year and Harry is accompanying Sirius and Remus to the Quidditch World Cup, Ireland vs. Bulgaria. Sirius seems extremely excited, whereas Remus putters about the house solemnly, occasionally emitting long-suffering sighs or cleaning, which (as Sirius whispers in Harry’s ear one night as they both watch Remus tidy the library seriously) is a sign of a stressed Moony. 

Remus may also simply be trying to vent his frustration with Sirius in another way, seeing as the man has not ceased his annoying and frankly rude attempts to get Harry to see the light on Slytherins, usually by charming everything even vaguely green, black, or silver into some insufferable variant of the color yellow, or by cooking snake for dinner one night (Lilla hisses furiously and refuses to leave Harry’s side, perceiving it as a threat which, well, she’s not wholly wrong), or stealing Harry’s letters from Draco just to read them aloud in a poncy voice that sounds rather more like how the Queen might sound if she were incredibly tipsy. That last one had prompted a screaming match lasting hours between Remus and Sirius, ending with Remus snatching the letter back and pointing out of the room and Sirius slinking out and pouting in the upper hallways, muttering sulkily and randomly painting statuettes red with a spell. Harry had retreated to his room and resigned himself to the mirror’s “you look lovely, dear,” and “perhaps a tad more hair gel? Stunning!” to distract himself from the sounds of Remus smashing something out on the lawn (likely the latest of Sirius’ terribly orange statuettes). 

All in all, despite a lack of appreciation for the sport, Harry waited anxiously for the distraction it would provide for his guardians. Surely it couldn’t be any worse than their current state of affairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please come commiserate with me about Sirius' terrible foot-in-mouth syndrome in comments below.


	4. the game itself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry is still not really so interested in Quidditch,  
> Veela are rather interesting, and  
> OOPS, MOONY'S GOT A SECRET!!!  
> (jk that comes up more later)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y'all get two updates today because i'm impatient and i'm about to have an hour and a half to spare with nothing to do but homework and type out this story with REALLY LONG CHAPTERS for this fic so enjoy

The game in itself is not really as interesting as the tent camp or the pregame showing-off of the mascots to Harry, though Sirius spends much of the game remarking on James’ prowess in the sport, ignoring Remus’ elbow jabs to the ribs or the increasing stink-eye from Lilla where she’s curled around Harry’s lap. The Malfoys are seated nearby, Lady Malfoy and then Lucius and then Draco, twin dragons perched on and around their chairs, and Lady Malfoy’s peacock settled indolently at her feet, pecking at something in the dust. Harry’s heard from Draco’s letters that his mother enjoys dropping the beast-pellets at her feet when she sits and watching them be pecked up. “Makes her feel like she’s providing,” Draco writes dutifully, and Harry’s glad she enjoys them so much. Draco is closest, to Sirius’ extreme discomfort, and nearby to the Malfoys are the Weasleys, Percy and Arthur and the rest of the boys, and young Ginny, already showing an interest in the sport. He’d heard from the girl that she was thinking of trying out for Gryffindor’s team but doesn’t have enough confidence in her skills. Harry doesn’t know enough to truthfully provide that confidence, and encourages her efforts to learn more through experience.

Perhaps his favorite part of the entire affair is when the Veela take center stage below in the middle of the stadium. Sirius goes all swoony and attempts to make a swan dive off the bleachers, Remus and Harry of course lunging from their seats to hold him back. Draco and Lucius of course manfully resist, though their faces go a little more pointy and their eyes narrow into a sort of bird’s eyes. Draco has to employ Thrakos into holding Percy in his seat as the boy shoots upright - or would have, if he’d been able to. And Lilla must lay across the Weasleys’ laps to keep them in place, sighing one of her incomprehensible metal groans. Harry eyes them in concern; Ginny looks almost feverish, and Percy has begun to mumble under his breath. It’s terrifying as it happens, as no one had given Harry any warning, but after it’s a horridly funny joke that he spends the afternoon laughing about.

(It’s only later that Ginny tells him that they had enough tickets for Molly to join them, as a courtesy of one of Lucius’ attempts at a peace offering, but she refused, saying she was boycotting Percy’s employment with them and Arthur’s apparent loss of faculties. It’s not so funny after that.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so.  
> ...  
> ...Sirius and Remus need to have a chat. Like, soon.  
> (alsoihopepeoplenoticedGinnyincludedintheWeasleysaffectedbyVeela)
> 
> I have a headcanon that you're only affected by a Veela of the gender you're attracted to, like straight man -> female Veela, vice versa, gay man -> male Veela, and vice versa. So who's attracted to these FEMALE Veela could be really important in the story. also, bi people exist so don't immediately rule my dudes one way or the other because they may be both... yeah. anyway. trying real hard to hint some possible pairings in this chapter.


	5. Lucius makes a decision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucius makes a decision, the Death Eaters gather under their old flag, and the future has changed drastically once more.

The signal comes in the middle of the night, the throb of the Mark enough to surge him out of bed. Narcissa stutters awake, frozen for a moment before realizing the threat has not occurred yet. 

“Lucius,” she says quietly into her pillow. Euphemia stirs at the bed’s foot, her beady grey eyes fixing on him in the still of the night’s air and the dark of the room. 

“I must go,” he whispers back, already getting dressed. She is familiar with this routine, though it has been more than a decade since it last occurred thanks to the Potter boy. She rolls to face him. 

“Lucius,” she says, and then just looks at him. He’s aware to what she is referring: their plan to minimize damage to themselves. Voldemort is weak already and growing weaker everyday as the children of his allies find a new, more powerful lord to contend with and serve, and a Malfoy survives above all else.  _ Malfoy survit avant tout. _

Tonight he will fudge his first new mission for the Dark Lord, and prepare to enter into the service of a new one. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that's my boi Lucius, fight the power


	6. Lucius' rebellion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lucius enacts a plan, Narcissa worries, Draco sleeps on.

He strides out into the trees, mask firmly in place, long blonde hair gathered into a net and concealed beneath a cowl. The others may not be so careful, but Lucius does not intend to be caught or recognized tonight. This is the beginning of the end for the Malfoy career under the Dark Lord, and he intends to do such a thing justice. 

Mulciber recoils at the sight of him. “Malfoy?” He mutters, shoulders rolling. “Is that you?” Lucius nods. He won’t speak. Let them claim it was him tonight; they will have no evidence for a pensieve to find, no verbal or physical cues. Tonight he is a ghost. 

“Let’s go,” one of the others whispers gleefully, leading the rush into the bushes towards the muggle family’s house, and Lucius fades into a tree’s shadow, watching them pass. He memorizes faces, names, voices, wands, anything to identify these people later if he must, and then he returns to his tent, tucking his disguise into the trash can by his desk where they are summarily burned. He watches them go, ignoring Narcissa’s entrance to the room and the elves’ nervous flutterings to prevent the smoke from escaping the tent. 

Tonight he has freed himself. Tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a HUGE turning point in the story. Originally I was going to have Lucius fight tooth and nail for the Dark Lord but then I realized. Lucius may not be a wonderful person, or even a GOOD person, but he cared about his family and so did Narcissa, and if something came along that seemed like a better option for his family to survive and succeed and BE HAPPY, then by george Lucius would have been on that bandwagon so fast y'all would get whiplash.


	7. The Tournament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy is still a reliable source of information, there is going to be a Tournament to the death, and a certain recognizable person will be making an appearance...

The next morning, after Harry’s birds and bees turn up quite a bit of evidence but nothing really completely trustworthy, Percy shows up at the tent he shares with Remus and Sirius (both of whom are avoiding each other’s eyes) to tell him about the Triwizard Tournament and how the other schools will be arriving at Hogwarts this year for it. 

“Penny and I broke up, but we’re still pretty good friends,” Percy says. “She’s got a job with Mr. Crouch, the man who’s handling the Tournament this year, and I don’t think she’d lie about it to me at least. Anyway. Something to keep in mind.” He begins to walk away, mind already whirring with something else, but he stops and turns back. 

“Oh yeah,” he says, “and Mr. Crouch is bringing a Ministry administrator along to see how the school’s doing with the new Headmistress. A Ms. Dolores Umbridge?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oooohhhh, twist.....


	8. the secrets of the ex-headmaster of hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minnie goes through Albus' secret treasure chest and what she finds is...not great.

Minerva sighs and settles back into the Headmistress’ chair, unable to fully relax. Only months ago Albus had been deposed and yet she was still finding packets of some illegal substance in truly exorbitant amounts or prized artefacts thought lost years ago stuck inside a filing cabinet between students’ files. She almost didn’t feel safe in the open office, fearing Albus had rigged something to ‘test’ his successor or had left something truly dangerous just behind something benign. 

However, it was that very filing cabinet where she’d discovered something truly gruesome: all the information Dumbledore had amassed on one young Tom Marvolo Riddle or, as he’d later come to be called, Lord Voldemort, and what exactly had kept him alive through young Harry’s ricochet of the Killing Curse.

Horcruxes. 

Minerva sighed again and dropped her head into her hands. Luckily, as Headmistress, she would have plenty of access to materials telling her how to destroy these bits of broken soul, and Albus’ notes detailed anywhere he suspected they might be placed along with why he thought so, narrowing her search considerably. She could get the Order on top of this right away, maneuvering so that by the time Tom made his comeback he’d have nothing to fall back on a second time. Minerva would  _ ensure _ it.

Though perhaps it would be better to keep this from young Mr. Potter awhile longer. Some of the notes here...yes, it was better to leave Mr. Potter in the dark for a while yet, just until the Tournament was well over. Going by Albus’ recorded prophecy also detailed in these accursed notes Harry would be finding out sooner or later and it may be best to have him in the know on the off chance they’d be able to get rid of the Horcrux within without having to kill him. The Order, however, they could begin working on this immediately.

The first letter she wrote was addressed to Remus, the closest entirely sane adult to Harry at the moment. She advised to stay quiet on this for a while until they could get a better handle on the situation. The second went to Severus, telling him all she’d found out Albus knew of that night. She knew he’d gone afterwards and that what he found had torn him apart; she felt he deserved to know that even if Pettigrew hadn’t blabbed their location, there was a high chance Tom wouldn’t have been killed before them anyway what with these soul tethers anchoring him to existence. She felt it may give him some kind of peace, and perhaps light a fire under his tail to see these Horcruxes destroyed once and for all. 

The third letter was to Kingsley. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a hot minute hasn't it? wow


End file.
